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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-02-11, Page 8Page A8 - Goderich Signal -Star, Wednesday, February 11, 2009 Korean teaching job offers unique teaching experience Bryan Lah.y for the signal -star Are you bored of your job? Are you nearing university graduation and wondering about the next step? Do you want to explore the world and get paid to do it? • If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you might consider pursuing a unique job in a market that is currently red-hot: teaching English in South Korea. I've been living in a tiny apartment in the heart of Seoul for five months teaching English at an all -boys tech- nical high school. My situation has been challenging — starting with the fact that most of my students can't understand much of what I say. This is where my Korean co -teacher comes in — I have one to help me in every class. Working with six dif- ferent teachers who speak varying levels •of English presents an entire- ly different set of challenges. One of them even gave me a Korean nalne for my business card — Na Bu Yong. It has a profound . meaning: I will lead a rich, comfortable life. Per- haps one day. Outside of work, I have enjoyed the Korean lifestyle for the most part. Korean food is very spicy, but outside of the seafood (which seems to come from the deepest parts of the ocean) I've enjoyed it. I enrolled in a free Korean class, where I have met people from every corner of the world. Learning the language is another challenge — my textbook provides me with 23 different ways of saying, "Do you know?" in Ko- rean. But the most unique aspect of this culture is its stark homogeneity. I heard on the radio the other day that the foreign population of Korea has grown to a whopping 1% of the total. As a result, white Canadians such as myself tend to stand out in the crowd — especially among Ko- rean children. But those feelings of isolation are tempered by the fact that most of the foreign population in Seoul are young English teachers such as myself — I was introduced to several hundred of them at our program's -orientation, and made many friends from English-speaking countries around the world. Korea is also a good place from which to travel to other parts of Asia, due to its prox- imity to China, Japan, and Thailand. My travels thus far have taken me around Korea, and I was even lucky enough to cross the border into North Korea for a one -day tour of the mysterious communist country. What are the perks of the job? You get a free return flight from Canada to Korea. You get a free apartment, and you get a lot of free meals from your colleagues. Your salary can range anywhere from $1500-$3000 per month depending on your situa- tion. All that is required is a univer- sity degree in any subject. No expe- rience is necessary. If those benefits appeal to you, and you think you can handle the cultural challenge, I'd recommend starting your re- search at Dave's ESL Cafe website at www.eslcafe.com. If you want to read more about my experiences in Korea, including facing racism, cute Korean golf caddies, and men- acing North Korean border security, please feel free to check out my blog at http://strayblog.wordpress.com. Probus speaker looks to bring steam locomotion to Goderich Donny Scott signal -star staff The Goderich Probus Club invited Roy Dennis Broadbear and Mac Campbell to speak regarding the pos- sibility of having an existing steam train route extended to Goderich. Broadbear and Campbell spoke on behalf of the Waterloo Central Rail- way (WCR), that travels from Wa- terloo to St. Jacobs, providing a his- toric ride on a restored train that stops at the St. Jacob's Farmer's Market. The mute is nm three times a day on select Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sat- urdays, April through September. The presentation was about the possibility of bringing .the route to Goderich occasionally, and how they would need to reach their fundraising goal of $500,000 to make the build- ing of a shop possible that would .al- low that trip. The building, a 5,000 square.foot shop that will cover two tracks and be able to house steam locomotives for heavy repairs, would allow for the restoration of the current steam engine, as well as new projects. The building will also contain a library that will contain books, technical ser- vice documents and operating manu- als dating back to the 18th century. An offshoot of the Southern On- tario Locomotive Restoration So- ciety (SOLRS), the WCR is a rela- tively new venture, having arrived in Waterloo in May of 2007. Since then, the WCR has carried an estimated 25,000 passengers according to docu- mentation provided by Broadbear. The route it travels was previously used by a for-profit venture, the Waterloo -St. Jacob's Railway. Campbell explained what the future of the railway is looking at as far as Goderich is concerned. "We want to bring it to God- erich, but first we have to build a shop to repair a steam locomotive in so that it can run. We tried. in previous years, but we had tech- nical difficulties. If we got the shop up as soon as possible, the train could be in Goderich by next year," he said.. The group is looking at building a 5,000 square foot building that will cover two tracks and be able to house steam locomotives for heavy repairs. The building will rrlii.arriiltistoiririrraTiirrit!!L im lik U2€1 .•l 11 : , / I E g ,,7-,,,, ...„ .:_,,,,, j/,l, 11 In STARTS TODAY..February llth to 14th! Benjamin Moore Collection Fresh Start Aura 3.73L Cans Only The Colour Experts" III a lit L 111 .14010•011 101041~44 1 1 1 1 1 iw coon xou« sq., ooaencn 524-8600 J 0000000�+�o�00000��uy also contain a library that will contain books, technical service documents and operating manuals dating back to the 18th century. With the shop built, they will be able to expand on their current one - engine system and make trips to oth- er rail destinations possible. The current engine, the ETR no. 9 is a 1400 horse power locomotive that was originally built in Montreal in 1923, and was retired in 1963 in Windsor. In 1986, the SOLRS began to restore the engine to its' former glory, and after 12 years succeeded, making it one of the few operational steam engine. locomotives in opera- tion. The engine originally operated around Si Thomas and then expand- ed to Guelphh and Windsor, but the Canadian National Railway compa- ny abandoned the shop and line that it ran on, meaning that the SOLRS had to find a different place to run it, and thus the society and. the engine found their way to Waterloo. If the venture is a success, the train would nun to Goderich once or twice a year to start, with expansion pos- sible. • r Give yourself the advan in your job search. Attend a FREE STARTING POINT Wo to develop your Return -to -Wo Action Plan and find the resourc available to make it happen! Call your local Centre for Employment and Goderich 519-5244-2515 Clinton 519-482-1700 Seaforth 519-527-0305 EMPLOYMENT Empiorient:.- Progrithi in, ONT- RIO °� bow• °°~ a 1.({II(.'_'